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June 01, 2005

Felt: Fiction Stranger than Truth

Deep Throat is revealed, the country yawns.

It turns out, very simply, that the insider who finked on Nixon was a simple, straight guy just doing something a little bit extraordinary. He wasn't particularly heroic, he just did what we commonly refer to as a 'CLM', a career limiting move. Except he did it on the sly, with a little bit of spycraft, and he helped take down a giant.

The legend has grown larger than the man, W. Mark Felt, and that is as it should be. There's nothing really dramatic about doing the right thing, because most everyone knows what that is. But the very idea of a secret crusader hiding amongst us is exciting.

I'm glad that Felt appears in every way to be less than extraordinary. It should inspire us to know that just being the good guy and taking a chance which might hurt our chances at promotion within a bureacracy can be a very good thing. An anonymous good deed can be the stuff of legends.

Posted by mbowen at June 1, 2005 07:54 AM

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Comments

The sad part about this revelation is that everyone will be resurrecting the 'trama' of Watergate, Nixon, and those evil-evil-evil Republicans.

Posted by: Mad Mikey [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 1, 2005 04:32 PM

The sad part about this revelation is that everyone will be resurrecting the 'trama' of Watergate, Nixon, and those evil-evil-evil Republicans.

Posted by: Mad Mikey [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 1, 2005 04:32 PM

Ooops!

Posted by: Mad Mikey [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 1, 2005 04:33 PM

I'm just glad he got a job as the cigarette man on the X-Files, and that DT was not G. Gordon Liddy!

Posted by: qualityg at June 1, 2005 06:47 PM

I'm not so sure that the move was career-limiting though. Lots of rumors suggest that he did what he did because his career was already limited after Hoover was replaced by a guy that the FBI "old guard" couldn't get along with. That almost makes what Felt did look as much like the actions of a disgruntled employee as a hero or a champion of righteousness.

Not saying I think what he did was wrong, but his motives must be questioned.

Posted by: Kirk at June 1, 2005 08:38 PM